Since You've Been Gone'
by towriteortoread
Summary: How Roy helps Felicity to smile after Oliver "dies". A one-shot written for tumblr user: Based off of this video: /watch?v MiSq82VtvQ


A whole month had passed since Malcom Merlyn had invaded the foundry. A whole month had passed since John Diggle had lost yet another brother to battle. A whole month since Roy Harper had lost the only person that seemed to care what he made of himself, his mentor. A whole month had passed since Felicity Smoak had lost her hero. The foundry was a broken room now, filled with reminders and triggers for each member of the team.

Each member had their own way of coping with the tragedy. John lashed out at everyone, he could only stand to be around the petite blonde and her whispered words for an entire week. Lyla had been patient with him and Diggle had found solace in his family after the initial shock and heartbreak. Roy threw tantrums, releasing his anger by breaking arrows, destroying dummies, picking fights with every drunk asshole that was thrown out of Verdant. It took two weeks for his blonde, conscience-like friend to bring him back from the edge.

John and Roy didn't spend too much time mourning Oliver Queen. It wasn't that the two men felt so little for Oliver that they needed very little time to grieve, it was that they knew what Oliver Queen would have wanted from them. Diggle suited up as the Arrow and the duo protected the city that Oliver had sacrificed himself for. Each criminal that they took down helped them to piece together the parts of them that had been shattered by Oliver's death.

As for the smallest member's coping mechanism, after the night of sobbing and sleeping on Oliver's cot in the back corner of the Foundry, Felicity Smoak had spent the last month as she would have spent any other month. Felicity went to work everyday at 8:30 in the morning, was present and on the comms in the foundry by 7pm; her life hadn't seemed to have changed. From the outside looking in, Felicity's life hadn't shifted an inch since Oliver had died. But her team members knew her better.

Felicity Smoak was the sunshine in everyone's life who had the pleasure to be friends with her. She brought a soft smile to John's face when she bounced in from work, pulling her curls into her ponytail and asking why John hadn't updated the iCloud with pictures of baby Sara. For Roy, she brought sass and a sister-like companionship that he had never experienced, also offering the mothering care he had never received. Felicity was a bouncing ball of happiness with her rambles and sweet smiles, but recently her brightly painted nails and hot pink skirts were the only thing bright about her.

A woman once known for her rambles had become one of few words. She communicated in head nods and with sad eyes. It broke the hearts of her cohorts. Felicity Smoak was broken in the worst way that she could be. She didn't grow dark or cold, she didn't push people away; Felicity Smoak walked through the motions and grew numb.

John Diggle had tried every trick in his 'Felicity Smoak Handbook' to retrieve a smile. Not the dull, lifeless smiles that she forced for Ray Palmer, for baby Sara, for her mother on their Skype calls. Diggle yearned to see the sweet girl grin again. Roy felt broken just looking at her, he was close with Felicity but he wasn't Digg close, and he certainly wasn't Oliver close. They were close enough to share a giggle at the expense of Oliver, to argue about social media, to blare old music in the car on the way to Big Belly Burger.

After a dinner/meeting of concern for Felicity's well-being with Digg and Lyla one night, Roy had felt compelled to help their Girl Wednesday. Even on the worst of days for Felicity, she seemed to cheer up with online shopping! Roy had logged every computer in the Foundry onto all of Thea's favorite clothing sites and then he shuffled to the mats to await Felicity's arrival. When Felicity did arrive, she sighed with irritation and Roy crossed that idea off of his list.

"What?" Roy asked after he explained his failed plan to Digg.

"Listen Roy," John sighed, "I tried everything that I know and it hasn't worked. I don't like the idea of letting Felicity grieve this way, I wish she would cry or scream or lock herself away, I wish she would feel. Felicity is her own person though, she has always done everything her way, making her own decisions, and she has decided that this is how she wants to deal."

Roy Harper wasn't accepting John's answer to their problem. He tried for weeks to make Felicity smile. Brought her ice cream, she complained because the carton's perspiration could have gotten onto the computers. Bought her the latest series of Doctor Who, turns out she only enjoyed the tenth doctor or something like that and she had stopped watching after that. Brought her Big Belly Burger everyday for a week, she grumbled about gaining a big belly. Roy was trying everything. He just wanted to see her smile, and it was hurting him. He wanted her to sing with him again, to tell him that he was smarter than he thought, someone to laugh with.

On an overcast day, four months after Malcom delivered the news, Roy concocted the perfect plan. He called Palmer, requesting that Felicity be sent home early, it wasn't the first time that one of Felicity's men had requested this so Palmer thought nothing of it at this point. Roy warned Digg of the oncoming texts that Felicity was sure to fire off towards the guys and Roy sent a simple "911" text to her so she would "understand" what she thought was going to be the situation.

Parked next to her bright red Mini Cooper, Roy sat and waited for Felicity to come to the parking garage. Her expression was dull, even as she noticed his small black car. She did not smirk back at him as he rolled down the window and dangled the keys that he had successfully stolen from her purse when she was called to Palmer's office to be relieved for the day. Quite frankly, Palmer Technologies could do with a security upgrade, but that was for another time.

"Get in bitch with wifi," Roy smirked at his pun but she didn't flinch at his words, "we're going shopping."

"Roy Harper, I am a VP of a company and I hope that you didn't have my boss relieve me for a shopping trip."

"Felicity, I know that you know what today is. I know that you don't want to be here anyways, I know that you never want to be here. I also know that you don't want to be at the Foundry either. What I don't know is why you refuse to let yourself grieve properly." Roy sighed heavily and contemplated his next few words. "We're all lost without Oliver, we're all sad and heartbroken, but we're also a team and we're here for each other. You and I were there for Digg, we helped him find his way back to his family. You and Digg were there for me, you kept me from staying in 'Roy Rage' mode. Please, please Felicity, let me be here for you."

Felicity's eyes had glossed over but she blinked twice and climbed into the passenger's seat. She placed her purse in her lap, folded her hands together, and laid her head back against the headrest. Roy drove in silence through the streets of Starling, he wouldn't push conversation for a while because he was just glad that she had even gotten into the car with him.

There was a shop at the edge of town, seated on a corner right before the Glades. Roy often shopped here because it was inexpensive but looked nicer than the consignment shops in the Glades. He parked on the curb and dragged Felicity by her hand through the store. Towards the back of the store was were the jackets were located, it was where Roy had found his coveted red hoodie. On a manikin was a leather jacket that reminded him of James Dean and Sara Lance. He snatched the jacket off of the manikin snatched the jean jacket that Felicity's eyes had lingered on for more than two seconds off of the rack.

"We're getting cool jackets," Roy said as he charged his debit card. Felicity didn't respond and simply went through the motions of putting the jacket on after Roy removed the tags. Once they were in the car, Roy plugged his dinosaur of an iPod into his cassette player auxiliary cord and pressed play on the playlist he had created.

"Roy," Felicity started as some Kelly Clarkson song began, "what are you trying to accomplish."

"For five minutes Felicity," Roy pleaded, "for five minutes let go. After five minutes you can jump out of the car and head home but just give yourself five minutes. What would Oliver want Felicity, because you being this way is not it."

Felicity dropped her head, she shook it and then reached for the hair tie that occupied her wrist. As she tied her hair back, Roy began to belt the words that he knew. He was smiling already, something about this helping him in the way he hoped to help Felicity. As the song built up the chorus he glanced at Felicity, who now had her phone in her hand and the front-facing camera on the pair. Her glance at Roy was tentative and she closed her eyes for a long moment but when Kelly began to belt the words, Roy joined in without hesitation and Felicity followed.

Something inside of Roy shined as Felicity smiled for the first time in months. It wasn't pride because he accomplished a goal, it was happiness because she looked brighter. They shared glances with each other throughout the chorus and she was smiling at him, trying not to laugh at him, being as dramatic as he was. There were slivers of the numb Felicity trying to harden back over her, she frowned in between lines as if the instrumentals of the song without the words were meaningless and made the moments less satisfying, but Roy wasn't trying to build a skyscraper from an ant hill.

As the music flowed into the next set of lines, Felicity burst into giggles and Roy was going to beg her for that video to show John. He was feeling lighter despite the grey clouds outside of the car. Felicity had only silently promised him five minutes but the drive lasted half an hour and there were embarrassing 90's songs and show tunes and small giggle fits and huge grins. There was no numbness that settled back over Felicity as they arrived back at Palmer Technologies' parking garage, instead silent tears slid down her cheeks.

"Thank you Roy," Felicity smiled. She leaned over and kissed his cheek softly. "I will never forget this and know that I love you."

_Five months later as Felicity sat on the now twice dead Oliver Queen's lap, his arms like vices around her waist, Roy searched through his recent videos on his phone. No one spoke of how they grieved for their friend, or in Felicity's case, lover. But John had simply mentioned to Oliver that it was great to see Felicity smiling again. With a frown and a worried brow Oliver started to ask about her life without him but she arrived to the Foundry as if called and Roy sprinted to his phone. _

_ "Felicity, you didn't smile?"_

_ Diggle, Roy, and Felicity stilled for a moment. Felicity sighed and tightened her hold on Oliver's neck. _

_ "You were gone, I was sad, I had no reason to smile," Felicity spoke softly, "until these goofballs made me." _

_ "Actually," Diggle spoke up, "it was Roy initially. I was useless to Felicity, even after using my mystical cute baby as a tool." _

_ Oliver looked amused but still concerned. Felicity was smiling though and Roy was too because he found what he was looking for. The video was barely half a minute long but it brought light to everyone all at once. Felicity's lips found Oliver's as if to remind her that she didn't need Roy's delirious daytime detours to perk her up anymore. Roy groaned loudly but he didn't mind seeing the two show PDA, it was voyeurism if you thought creepily about it but for Roy it was watching these two people that he loved, love each other. _

_ "Thank you," Oliver said as Felicity parted from him. "Thank you Roy, for what you did." _

_ "It wasn't just making your girl smile," Roy grinned, "she's our girl too." _


End file.
